Blast highlights peril of UK troops' move

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A US soldier and at least one Iraqi were killed when a bomb
struck a patrol in southern Baghdad yesterday as US warplanes
bombed the rebel-held city of Falluja in an effort to crush a
deadly insurgency.

Meanwhile, a British battle group headed to deadlier zones near
the capital despite pleas from a British hostage to the Prime
Minister, Tony Blair, to abort the mission, requested by the United
States to help restore order ahead of elections.

Highlighting the risks of operating around Baghdad, the early
morning bomb exploded under a flyover and in the path of a US
military patrol.

Three US soldiers were wounded, with one later dying, while one
and possibly two Iraqi civilians were also killed, the US military
said.

"The impact was so strong I was blown away," said Mohammed
Jassem, 42, who had been fixing his car at the time, just metres
from the blast.

A British military spokesman declined to give further details of
the controversial mission by the 850-strong battle group, a day
after scores of tanks, Land Rovers and other vehicles from the
Black Watch battalion left their base in Basra, in the south.

The redeployment marks the first time since the invasion of Iraq
in March last year that British troops have left southern Iraq for
US-controlled areas, where they are considered more likely to come
under hostile fire.

Raising the stakes, the kidnapped Briton Margaret Hassan begged
anew for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq and the release
of Iraqi women prisoners.

Ms Hassan, a British-Iraqi national taken hostage last week,
"issued an appeal to Britons to urge Mr Blair to withdraw his
troops from Iraq and not redeploy them in Baghdad", Al-Jazeera
television said.

Baghdad and its top allies Washington and London are determined
to restore order to Iraq in time for the national elections planned
for January - by force if necessary.

To this end, US warplanes again bombed Falluja in the hunt for
the resistance leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is believed to use
the Sunni Muslim bastion as a base.

Dr Ahmed Khalil, at the city's main hospital, said three people
died in the raid.